Posts Tagged ‘hot springs’

We’ve been in Manali now for about five days and have managed to build up a massive bill at our guest house. We’ve got to go and check out now and split up the thousands of rupees. That’ll be good fun. Today has the best weather that we have experienced here so it feels a shame to be leaving. There is no rain! Three of us are getting the 7.30pm 12 hour mini bus ride to Dharamshala later today. We bought some special prescription only sleeping pills in Shimla so hopefully they’ll help take the edge off the bumpy ride.

The view from my guest house window in Manali

Yesterday I did some extreme sports like you’re meant to while in Manali. We all went zorbing. I now know why all of the organisers were saying you shouldn’t do it in the rain. It was raining like England when we got out of the taxi and the zorbs were disgustingly dirty with yak shit on the outside and in. It was great fun doing it but I wouldn’t be in any hurry to do it again. It was an expensive 30 seconds but the feeling of weightlessness was cool.

They see me rollin' They hatin' Patrollin' they tryin' to catch me ridin. dirty.

After the zorbing, some delicious vegtable pakoras and a few rounds of chai we went to Vashist’s natural hot springs for a lovely soak with the locals inside a man made temple with intricate marble carvings. At first the water was a little too hot to handle with the cold air but it made a nice change to the cold showers i’ve got used to.

Soaking it all up with the locals

I would recommend anyone who likes Amsterdam to come to Manali. The place should be caled Little Amsterdam because there is the same feeling around the town, basically all the locals are drug dealers or saffron dealers (i’ll let you decide who gets better business), and there is the same distinct smell when you go into all of the coffee shops. There are hardly any police here and the weather is identical. Also, the view of the mountains and natural waterfalls is a bit better than the scummy canals.

Bored of working in London and living for the weekend to see his amazing 18 friends. Myles decided to fulfil a lifelong passion and go travelling. The only problem was he didn’t have any money to go. One phone call later to his lovely bank Nationwide on a dreary Tuesday ... Continue reading →